You're the Reason
by BlackCorp
Summary: When Summer is injured in battle with Mechtaur, Dillon's true feelings begin to surface. Could romance be far behind? Chapter 3 is up.
1. Falling Hard

Inside the dome city of Corinth, the RPM Rangers faced off against a huge mechanical monster known as Mechtaur. He looked like a mechanical version of the mythological Minotaur, a solid black robot that resembled a creature that had the head, hind end, and hooves of a bull, as well as the arms and torso of a human man. He brought with him an army of Grinders to keep the Rangers busy while he attacked the city. While the Rangers were battling with the Grinders, Mechtaur was tearing apart a nearby property when suddenly there was a cry for help.

"HELP! My baby, my baby! Please, somebody help me!"

Looking over, the Yellow Ranger saw a mother scream in horror as Mechtaur charged at a car with a small child inside. Without a single moment of hesitation, Summer fired with her Nitro Blaster and sent the mechanical man-bull flying backwards. She leaped in his path and knocked him away, but not before his metallic horn tore into her side. When the Black Ranger noticed that his comrade and fellow Ranger had fallen, he erupted in a rage of fury. He ran full speed towards Mechtaur and drew his sword from its sheath. With one powerful swipe, the Black Ranger sliced through one of Mechtaur's horns and severed it completely.

"You bastard! You'll pay for what you did to Summer!"

With his cyborg speed, Dillon charged Mechtaur who rammed at him with his remaining horn. Dillon took hold as he was pushed back to a grinding halt. The Black Ranger then charged in and took blow after blow from Mechtaur before he single handedly took Mechtaur apart. While the Red, Blue, and Green Rangers finished off the Grinders. As the all clear was sounded, an ambulance sped up as Dillon scooped Summer up in his arms. He placed her gently on the stretcher before she was taken off to the hospital.

An hour later, Dillon, Scott, Flynn, and Ziggy all sat around the small hospital waiting room that was filled with chairs, magazines, plants and a water fountain. It is a somber mood, as even Ziggy was not his usual cheerful self. A few moments later, Dr. K., a young girl with short black hair in a white shirt, black slacks, and a white lab coat, emerged from one of the hospital's many corridors.

"Dr. Jackson said that Summer should be fine. If it hadn't been for her Ranger Suit protecting her, she surely would have been dead. She will have to spend a few days in the hospital and she should make a full recovery. For now, the rest of us should head back to the Garage."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dillon stated coldly.

"You heard Dr. K., and since I'm team leader, I say you're going!" Scott got in Dillon's face as he spoke.

"I suggest you get out of my face while you still can."

"Scott, let it go. Dillon, you can stay as long as you like." Dr. K. speaks in a rational tone as she took Scott by the hand.

"Are we supposed to give in to his temper tantrums now, Dr. K.?"

"No, Scott, but Summer and Ziggy are the closest Dillon has to friends and seeing one of his friends so gravely injured has had a deep effect on him."

"AWWW! Dillon really does care about me." Ziggy smiled.

Dillon took the slow walk down a solid white hallway toward Summer's hospital room. He entered through the doorway and found Summer lying in bed connected to tubes and IVs. He walked over to her bedside and gently placed her hand in his. He gave her delicate hand a very light squeeze.

"I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. I was not a good friend to have let this happen to you. I have never told anyone this, but it's all because of you. You're the reason I joined the team."

As he spoke, Dillon does not realize that somewhere deep inside he is reaching Summer's sub-conscious.

In a yellow evening gown and heels, Summer walked to the middle of the ballroom floor where she was met by Dillon, who wore a black tuxedo. He extended his hand to her as the band began to play the waltz.

"May I have this dance, my dear?"

To be continued.


	2. Hatred

Summer lay in her hospital bed as she slowly stroked Dillon's hair while he slept at the side of her bed. At this moment, Dr. Jackson a middle aged woman with long brown hair in a white lab coat, walked in. She held a clipboard in her hand.

"How are you feeling, Summer?"

"Like I could take on Venjix's entire army by myself."

"Let's hope it does not come to that." The doctor gave a slight laugh as she spoke.

"How long has he been here?" Summer asked as she nodded her head towards Dillon.

"He has not left your bedside the whole time."

Summer smiled as she leaned down and kissed him atop the head.

"We just need to run a few tests and if everything turns up positive, we should be able to release you this afternoon."

"Thank you, doctor."

A few days later in the Garage, Flynn and Scott, in gray coveralls, are underneath the hood of Scott's car. As they worked on the engine, Ziggy walked downstairs from the upstairs living quarters. Scott lifted his head out from under the hood. Taking a towel, he wiped his hands and turned to Ziggy.

"Have you seen Dillon?"

"I think he went out for a walk with Summer."

"Why that lazy son of a bitch? What if we need him here? He has to go off shrinking his duties following Summer like a love sick puppy."

"Now hold on Scott. It's not that bad. We don't need Dillon right now and someone should be keeping an eye on Summer after what happened during the last battle."

"Flynn is right, Scott."

"Shut up, Ziggy!" The team leader gave the other man an icy glare.

At that moment, an alarm began to blare throughout the Garage. Dr. K. rushed in and typed some figures into the computer keyboard, which popped a map up on the screen that located the area where the city's barriers had been penetrated.

"Rangers, the city is in danger. I'm downloading the location where you are needed into the navigation systems in your vehicles."

Scott quickly lowered the hood on his red sports car and jumped behind the wheel. He exited the Garage followed by Flynn and Ziggy in Flynn's blue Hummer.

Summer and Dillon walked though a park filled with people. She looked up at the sky and the artificial sunlight and smiled, as they strolled along past the trees and flowers on this beautiful spring day.

"I'm so glad to be out of that hospital, especially on a day like today. It's so beautiful out and I don't think anything could spoil this day."

"I'm just glad you're feeling better. Well, I mean all of us were worried after you took that blow from Mechtaur."

Summer held out her hand to him, which he slowly accepted as they walked along. They watched as children played in the park and Summer couldn't help but smile at the sight. They stopped under a tree and Summer backed up against the tree; Dillon stood in front of her.

"I want to thank you again for being there for me, Dillon."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

She smiled at him as they both moved in closer. Just as their lips were about to meet, loud screams echoed through the air as people rushed by them in a panic.

"Not good." Dillon spoke as he watched a group of Grinders approach led by a huge black and sliver machine with the body of a small tank with a robotic head. The machine rolled towards them on its treads with a mechanical look devoid of what we humans would call emotion.

"Just who, or what, are you supposed to be?" Dillon called out to the mechanical monstrosity.

"I am the downfall of the human race. I am Hatred, and in the name of Venjix, I will rid this world of the plague of vermin called humanity."

Before Summer or Dillon had time to react, Hatred fired a green colored gas from his cannon which hit them both in the face and caused them to choke.

"I've had enough of this guy." Summer turned and looked at Dillon who turned and nodded to her as the both pulled out their morphers.

"RPM GET IN GEAR!"

In an instant they are morphed into the Yellow and Black Rangers and charged in and attacked the grinders. Summer went down and kicked the feet out from under two grinders. She followed up and caved their chests in. Dillon knocked the head off of one Grinder with a hard left fist then smashed in the face of another with a back elbow. Dillon lifted a Grinder overhead and tossed it into a group of its oncoming comrades. Meanwhile, Summer used the wheels on her boots to propel backwards, her arms extended outwards taking out another group of Grinders. As they looked down at the pile of disabled Grinders, they both looked around prepared for Hatred to attack only to discover he had vanished. Both used their morphers to power down their helmets as the other Rangers pulled up at this moment in their vehicles.

"Well, isn't this just great? You let Hatred get away." Dillon accused Summer.

"Me? I'm not the one with enhanced cyborg strength." She snarled at Dillon.

"Guys, what's going on here?" Scott interjected as he gets between the two.

"She let Venjix's latest pet robot escape."

"Me? You're blaming this on me? We should never have let you on the team! You should still be rotting in prison."

"If it was not for me, Mechtaur would have killed you! Think about that, you ungrateful little whore."

"I hate you!" Summer screamed out as the other Rangers looked on in shock and confusion.

To be continued.


	3. From Bad to Worse

"We should have just let you marry that rich snob. Then we would not have had to put up with your snooty attitude, 'Ms. Too Good for the Team.'"

Summer turned on her heels and stuck her finger in Dillon's face. "And we should have left you in prison to rot your piece of cyborg trash! This team would be much better off without you!"

"Guys, come on. Let's chill out here and have a nice glass of lemonade," Ziggy said as he walked up with a tray that carried five frosted glasses and a pitcher of lemonade.

"Shut up, Ziggy!" Summer and Dillon yelled at their teammate simultaneously.

"You don't talk to him like that!" Dillon screamed at Summer.

"You're not the boss of me, you walking piece of scrap metal!" Summer yelled as she got in Dillon's face before Scott got between the two of them and separated them.

"That's enough! I'm team leader and I'm ordering you both to stand down."

"Tell him that, not me." Summer gave Scott a pouty look.

"Sure, take her side in this. After all, we have all seen the way you look at her."

"Shut up, Dillon before I shut you up!" Scott angrily snarled at Dillon

At this moment, Dr. K walked up with an aerosol can and sprayed a gas in Summer's face, which caused her to fall face first in to Scott's arms. She then turned to Dillon and sprayed him in the face as he fell back where Flynn caught him.

"What did ye do to them, Doc?"

"Ranger Yellow and Ranger Black were out of control. I need them calm so I can perform a full bio check on them both, so I sprayed them with sleeping gas."

"I don't get it. I thought we were all friends here. Why would they suddenly want to attack each other?" Ziggy asked in a confused manner.

"You are an idiot," Dr. K speaks harshly to the Green Ranger.

"Bring Ranger Yellow and Ranger Black over to the to tables and strap them down." Scott and Flynn did as Dr. K said before Scott pulled Flynn off to the side

"I don't like this, Flynn. I know Dillon is a hot head, but he would never treat Summer like this."

"Aye, I agree with you also. The lass is too sweet herself and she would never show such hatred towards another human being, let alone a friend."

"I can't shake the feeling this has something to do with this Hatred they mentioned before. I'm going to check around the city and I would like you to come with me."

"Aye, you got it, fearless leader."

"Ziggy, I'm taking Flynn to check around the city. You stay here with Dr. K and keep us updated on Summer and Dillon."

"Sure thing. Well, looks like it's just you and me, Doc."

Dr. K sighed and rolled her eyes as Scott and Flynn entered Scott's red sportscar and drove out of the Garage.

Inside the lair of the computer virus, Venjix, its three Generals, the robots Crunch, and Shifter, and the cyborg, Tenaya 7 dressed in black and sliver with her long dark hair braided stand before its main console.

"Report Tenaya 7."

"Hatred has started his work. The Yellow and Black Rangers hate each other with a passion and it will not be long before the rest of the Rangers feel the same way."

"Oh, I love hate," General Shifter said with what would pass for glee in a human. " It just makes me wires feel all tingly inside."

"You can't feel love, you nit wit! That is a human emotion. You're a machine!" General Crunch scolded his colleague.

"Silence! Tenaya 7, take the Grinders and finish off the Rangers."

"Sure, piece of cake."

Inside the Garage, Dr. K is seated behind a computer going over the vitals of Summer and Dillon while Ziggy stood behind her as he drank a glass of lemonade from a straw.

"Sure you don't want some, Dr. K? It's lemony."

"For the last time no. Now leave me alone; I'm busy."

As she typed in some figures, Dr. K seemed to get a little concerned. "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"Both Ranger Yellow and Ranger Black seem to have increased heart rates and swelling on the brain. Wait, what am I explaining this to you for? Just be quiet and leave me alone!

Out in the city, Scott brought his red sports car to a screeching halt as a crowd of people came running in his direction as Grinders marched at them lead by Tenaya 7. The two men exited the car and ran forward to meet the enemy.

"That's far enough, Tenaya," Scott yelled at the cyborg, "we're putting a stop to you right now!"

"Then bring it, Rangers."

Scott and Flynn charged in at the Grinders. Flynn took one down with a spinning heel kick before flipping over another, grabbing it by the shoulders, lifting it up, and tossing it into an oncoming group of grinders. Scott attacked Tenaya, striking blow after blow, which she blocked before landing a punch of her own that sent him back into a stack of barrels. One grinder grabbed hold of Flynn, holding him as another punched at him. Flynn slid out of the Grinder's arms, causing the other Grinder to strike its comrade. With the Grinders all down, Scott and Flynn approached Tenaya 7.

"It's over, Tenya. Give it up."

"Aye, there are two of us and just one of you, lass."

"You really think so?"

Hatred came rolling up on his treads as Tenaya 7 pressed a small button on her belt.

Back in the Garage, Dr. K walks over to Dillon with a Q-tip and swabbed the inside of his nose before placing the residue on a small glass plate. She then did the same to Summer.

"EWWW! Doc that is seriously gross." Ziggy made a face of disgust.

"I told you be quiet. I'm busy."

Dr. K takes the samples and placed one at a time under a microscope, studying the bacteria before a look of horror came over her face. She then rushed to the communication console with a sense of urgency.

"Ranger Red, come in. Do you read me? Ranger Blue, answer me. Damn it, it's being jammed."

"What's wrong, Doc?"

"What's wrong? Is Venjix is about to achieve total victory by destroying the Power Rangers?"

To be continued.


End file.
